First Private Spaceship Docks with ISS

I had an argument with my parents several years back when Obama for all practical purposes privatized NASA. Cancelling nearly all projects and throwing money instead at private companies, it was a very controversial policy move at the time.

My parents who'd grown up through the cold war were of course angered by the idea. I however, took the approach that if something can be done privately, then lets do it privately. I'd rather see space go the way that airflight has gone, and I believed that it could be done.

And so today, I feel rather vindicated. The first private spaceship, operated by SpaceX, has docked at the ISS (International Space Station). The launch was delayed several times, but ended up successfully occurring last Tuesday. Now it has docked and delivered supplies.

The trip was unmanned, but SpaceX is hoping to launch manned flights before the end of the year. Video of docking below!


 

Yamato - 3 Episodes In

So I've gotten through the first 3 episodes, and my initial response is: wtf

Some shows are great. Some are okay. Some are bad, but they are guilty little pleasures, still having some redeeming qualities. This show, I really don't know if I'm going to get through. It's so, so, so bad. The English dubbing is the worst I've ever heard, and I've watched quite a bit of dubbed anime. The plot line is at the best of moments very silly, at worst, mind numbingly moronic.

In a show like Gundam Wing, the mechs are obviously beyond our technological abilities. But realism is given a nod here and there; the creators at least tried to appear realistic. In Space Battleship Yamato, science and engineering don't even make appearances. Not to mention all of the people are completely incompetent. The only thing that saves them is their magic WWII battleship. I say magic because it never takes damage and can kill anything, even though all of Earth's modern spaceships can't do crap.

I'm going to try and power through it, because I don't like to start something without finishing it (and I have nothing else to watch), but I'm not sure how much hope I still maintain about finishing it.
 

Space Battleship Yamato

I am caught up on Eureka and True Blood, and Falling Skies is over for the season. I needed new sustenance for my video cravings. Enter Space Battleship Yamato, also known as Star Blazzers. I found a remastered copy (It's from the 70s originally), and even that is pretty bad, but it's good enough to watch once. Turns out they just made a live action movie, so who knows, maybe a BluRay remaster of the original series is on the way.

General idea is that Earth is under attack by aliens, and the Earth Defense Force (Can anyone say EDF?) is losing. So it digs up an old WWII Japanese battleship, converts it to space travel, and it blows the hell out of the bad guys. I think. Just to make you jealous, I'll leave you with a small taste.

 

Space Shuttle Launch n-1

Endeavor just launched for it's last mission, which brings our shuttle mission count to n-1. One more to go sometime this summer, as Atlantis lifts off one more time. After that, we'll be stuck hitching rides to the space station, from Russia. Bet they'd have enjoyed knowing that 30 years ago.

As I write this, the shuttle is at mock 14, and just lifted off from the fuel tank. A pretty amazing sight, as the camera view from the fuel tank shows the shuttle slowly rising up and away from it. Shuttle is completely out of view now, it's 10 minutes after launch.

It's sad that we are retiring the shuttles. They are old and outdated. And if we were just replacing them with newer, better designs, that would be fine. But we are seemingly giving up on space, for the moment. It's logical ... the cold war need is gone, and NASA is a large drain on money. But it's just ... saddening.